Fender.



No. s24,7e5.- PATENTEI) JULY a, 1906. R. s. WATSON.

FENDER. 'APPLIOATION FILED 001. 2B. 1995.

"2 SHEETS SHEET 1.

PATENTED JULY 3; 1906.

R. S. WATSON.

FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 2a. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR WITNESSES THE unnms PETERS cc.,.wnssmcro-, 1:. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RoRERT s. WATSON, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR oE ONE-HALF To ALEXANDER ZEGELMEYER, oE BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented July 3, 1906.

Application filed October 28, 1905- Serial. No. 284,895.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT S. WATsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful 1m rovements in Fenders; and I do hereby dec are the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a fender, the present embodiment illustrating a fender such as is used on street-cars and the like.

Heretofore it has been found that persons who have been struck by cars provided with fenders have fallen on the fenders and have subsequently been thrown or have rolled off of the fender by reason of the force of their contact therewith or the speed and jarring of the car.

One object of my invention is the provision of means for retaining a person falling on the fender from being thrown or rolling off. V

Another object is the provision of means whereby the contact of the person with the fender will automatically cause the operation of the means for retaining the person on the fender.

To these ends, therefore, my invention consists in certain novel features, together with combinations of parts and their equivalents, such as will be more fully described herein after, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fender with my improvements attached. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the normal position of my improvements in full lines, dotted lines showing the position of the elements when retaining a person on the fender; and Fig. 4 is a detail view in perspective of the latch and tripping means.

Referring to the drawings, which disclose one embodiment of my invention, A indicates a fender of any convenient type, consisting of the skeleton frame 1, provided with the cushioning members 2, the frame being preferably of approximately L shape.

Pivotally secured, as by means of the hinges 3 3, to the forward end. of the fenderA is the retaining member or folder B, which may consist of an approximately rectangular 7 forming a continuation of the fender A. The

forward end of the retaining member or folder is preferably provided with a cushioning-roll 5, journaled in the obliq uely-dis posed bearings 6 6 and serving to cushion the shock of contact of the fender with the person hit and also operating to cause the person to fall upon the fender. Preferably located at the rear ends of the retaining member or folder are the stops 7 7, designed to engage the forward end of the fender proper, A, to limit the movement of the retaining member or folder in one direction and also operating to relieve the hinges from the strain caused by the springs 8 S, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. As a means for throwing the retaining member into the upright position (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3) 1 preferably provide the springs 8 8, suitably supported by the ears 9 9, carried by the forward end of the fender proper, A, the end of the springs bearing against the lower surface of the retaining member or folder, as shown in Fig. 2, at 10 10. These springs normally tend at all times to force the retaining member or folder into the upright position shown, and as one means for holding the member B in the horizontal position (shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and 3) I provide the latch 11, pivotally secured to a suitable base 12, mounted in the casing 13, supported, preferably, at the forward end of the fender proper, A, said latch being normally held in its lowered position by means of the leaf-spring 14, the lip 15 of the latch adapted to take over the forward end of the bail 16, secured to the retaining member or folder B.

As before stated, the retaining member or folderB normally constitutes, in effect, a continuation of the fender proper, A, being held in such position by engagement of the latch 14 with the bail 16, against the tension of the springs 8 8. To cause the release of the latch from the bail to permit the springs to force the retaining member or folder into upright position, I provide a tripping means, one embodiment of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, said tripping means comprising a tripping or releasing member 17, which, as shown, may be of ladder or fencelike construction and may extend across the fender proper from side to side thereof.

tripping member or rail 17 is ournaled in the lugs 18 18 to permit it to swing up and down, as shown in full and dotted lines in Fig. 3, and the rail is provided with a preferably heartshaped skeleton cam 19, depending beneath the surface of the cushioning members 2 2 to receive the link 20, the opposite end of which link is loosely secured to the catchllin any suitable manner. In the drawings I have disclosed one means for conveniently connecting the link and latch, which same consists in forming an aperture in the latch, across which is secured the pin 21. The link 20 projects through the aperture and loosely engages the pin 21 but this is only one of many modes which might be devised for connecting the latch and tripping member. Normally the tripping member 17 occupies the upright position, (shown in full lines in Fig. 3,) at which time the recessed portion of the heart-shaped cam is at its lowest point, thereby permitting the link to be received. in the recess and allowing the leaf-spring 14 to force the latch 11 down to retain the lip 15 of the latch in engagement with the bail 16, whereby to hold the retaining member B in horizontal position but when the member 17 is swung in either direction from the vertical the constricted portion of the heart-shaped cam engages the link 20, causing the latter to ride thereupon and operating to raise the catch. 1 1 against the tension of the leaf-spring 14 to release the bail 16, and thereby permit the springs 8 8 to quickly elevate the retaining member B to the upright position (shown in Fig. 3) until the stops 7 7 contact with the fender proper, A.

To reset the mechanism, all that is necessary is to raise the trip 17 to the vertical position, thereby permitting the link to be received in the recessed portion of the cam 19 to allow the leaf-spring 14 to force the latch 11 to its lowest position, whereupon when the retaining member is swung downward from its vertical position against the tension of the springs 8 8 the bail 16 will engage and take over the tooth or lip 15 of the latch andv hold the retaining member in its normally horizontal position against the tension of the springs 8 8.

In operation when the fender collides with a person the latter is caused to fall upon the fender, in his fall contacting with the trip member or rail 17 to force the latter into the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 8, thereby causing the latch to release the bail and permitting the retaining member to swing upward, whereby to retain the person on the fender and. prevent his rolling off or being jarred or thrown therefrom.

From the foregoingit is evident thatIhave devised a very simple, neat, and inexpensive means for saving life which can be applied to the fenders now in common use, and it is further obvious that many changes or alterations might be made in the form and arrangement of the several parts described without departing from the spirit of my invention, and hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction herein set forth.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. The combination with a fender, of a retaining member pivotally secured thereto, means normally tending to swing the pivoted member in one direction, means for normally locking the pivoted member as an extension of the fender, and tripping means extending above the horizontal portion of the fender and engaged by the person falling on the fender for releasing the locking means and permitting the retaining member to be actuated.

2. The combination with a fender, of a retaining member connected to the forward end thereof, means tending to throw the pivoted member into upright position, means for releasably locking the retaining member in approximately horizontal position and a tripping means extending above the horizontal portion of the fender and en aged by the person falling on the fender for releasing the locking means.

3. The combination with a fender, of a retaining member pivotally connected therewith, means tending to swing the pivoted member to upright position, locking means for releasably retaining the member in horizontal position, tripping means engaged by the person falling upon the fender, for releasing the locking means, and stops carried by the member at its pivoted end and adapted to engage the fender for limiting the upward. movement of the retaining member.

4. The combination with a fender, of a retaining member, pivotally secured to the forward end of the fender, means for swinging ISO the retaining member to upright position,

means releasably engaging the retaining member its axis of movement to normally cause it to constitute a forward extension of the fender, and tripping means extending above the horizontal portion of the fender for releasing the engagement of the lastnamed means with the retaining member.

5. The combination with a fender, of a member pivotally secured to the forward end thereof, andv adapted to assume an upright position relatively thereto, yielding means tending to retain the member in an upright position, a bail carried by the member, a latch pivoted to the fender and adapted to engage the bail to retain the member in its lowered position against the tension of the yielding means and a tripping means connected with the latch and adapted to be automatically operated by the person falling on the fender to release the latch and permit the actuation of the member to upright osition.

6. The combination with a fencer, of a member pivotally secured to the forward end thereof and adapted when in normal position to form an extension of the fender, means located adjacent the axis of movement of the member for releasably retaining the member in normal position, and means extending above the horizontal portion of the fender for causing the actuation of the member to upright position, when the retaining means is released.

7. In a fender, the combination with a member pivotally secured to the forward end thereof, and means for raising the member to upright position, of a locking mechanism comprising a latch carried by the fender and a bail carried by the member for retaining the member in its lowered position against the action of the first-named means, and a tripping mechanism connected with the latch for releasing its engagement with the bail.

8. In a fender, the combination with a suit able cushioned frame, of a folder pivotally secured to the frame, means tending to raise the folder to upright position, locking means for releasably retaining the folder in lowered position, and a tripping mechanism comprising a tripping-rail, a skeleton cam secured thereto and means connecting the cam and locking mechanism to cause the release of the folder when the tripping-rail is moved from its set position' 9. In a fender, the combination with a member pivotally secured thereto and adapted to constitute an extension thereof, when in its lowered position, of means for raising the member to upright position, locking means for retaining the member in its lowered position against the action of the firstnamed means, and a tripping mechanism for releasing the locking means, said tripping mechanism comprising a suitably-journaled tripping member extending across the fender, a cam secured to and depending from the tripping member and a link connecting the cam and locking means.

10. The combination with a fender provided with a swinging apron and means for actuating the apron in one direction, of a stop located closely adjacent the axis of movement of the apron for limiting the movement thereof in one direction.

11. The combination with a fender provided with a retaining member and means for actuatin the latter in one direction, of a latch carried by the fender, yielding means for normally retaining the latch in one position, means carried by the retaining member and engaged by the latch for releasably holding the retaining member in one position and a tripping means connected with the latch for causing it to release the means on the retaining member.

12. The combination with a fender provided with a swinging apron and means for actuating the apron in one direction, of rigid and movable members secured to the fender and apron, and a tripping means connected with the movable member to cause it to release the rigid member. I

13. The combination with a fender provided with a swinging apron and means for actuating the same in one direction, of rigid and movable members carried on the under faces of the fender and apron, the rigid member projecting rearwardly beneath the fender and adapted to be engaged by the movable member and tripping mechanism on the upper face of the fender for actuating the movable member.

14. The combination with a fender provided with an apron and means for actuating the latter in one direction, of rigid and movable members carried by the fender and apron, a tripping-rail pivotally mounted on the upper face of the fender and normally held 1n an approximately upright position thereon and mechanism connecting the rail and movable member for tri ping the latter.

15. The combination with a fender provided with an apron and means for actuating the latter in one direction, of rigid and movable members carried by the fender and a ron, a tripping-rail pivotally mounted on t e upper face of the fender and normally held in an approximately upright position thereon, the rail extending across the fender, and mechanism connecting the rail and movable member for tripping the latter.

16. The combination with a fender provided with an apron and means for actuating the latter in one direction, of rigid and movable members carried by the fender and 100 apron, a tripping-rail movably mounted on the fender, a cam element actuated by the rail, and means connecting the cam element and movable member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature to 5 in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT S. WVATSON. Witnesses:

ROY WALLIS, M. H. GREGG. 

